ADDIS ABABA, 22 June 2009 (IRIN) -
An increasing number of Africans living in urban areas are finding it harder
to put enough food on the table, the UN Economic Commission for Africa
(ECA) has warned.

"The food crisis and shortages are
still there in some African countries," said Adam Elhiraika, ECA economic
affairs officer. "We see [a] crisis when we do not have enough income
to buy the food we need."

Elhiraika, coordinator of a team which
prepared the ECA's Economic Report on Africa 2009, told IRIN in Addis Ababa:
"We have less purchasing power.

ROME - As nearly one billion poor
people worldwide struggle to survive the unrelenting global high food and
fuel price crisis, the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) announced
today the roll-out of a US$214 million package directed at 16 hunger hotspots.

"With hunger on the rise, we are
doing our best to stream incoming contributions to the people most in need
in Africa, Asia and the Caribbean," said WFP Executive Director, Josette
Sheeran.

Tropical Cyclone Bondo developed into
a very powerful storm in the southwestern Indian Ocean. The storm intensity
peaked at 110 knots before starting to weaken. By the time Bondo made landfall,
it had been down graded to a tropical storm with winds at about 60 knots.
Bondo developed on December 18th near Diego Garcia and dissipated on December
26th in the Mozambique Channel.

Although there has been a slight amount of cooling in the eastern tropical Pacific, sea surface temperatures remain well above normal across most of the basin. Positive ENSO conditions (or El Nino conditions) are expected to remain in place through the end of the southern Africa growing season.

[This report does not necessarily reflect
the views of the United Nations]

JOHANNESBURG, 10 June (IRIN) -
Although the United States and the United Kingdom have announced substantial
funding for food aid programmes in the Horn of Africa, appeals for assistance
in Southern Africa remain largely underfunded.

A US press statement noted that on 7
June President George Bush announced an additional $674.4 million in emergency
aid funding for Africa this year, while British Prime Minister Tony Blair
simultaneously increased emergency aid to Africa to a total of $300 million.

Introduction
The Programmes proposed in this paper come in the context of the Comprehensive Africa Agriculture development Programme (CAADP) which has been endorsed by the African Heads of State and Government as a framework for the restoration of agriculture growth, food security, and rural development in Africa.

CCA Guidance for East and Northeast Africa Rainfall in March-May 2004 at One Month Lead
Northeast Africa is defined here as the region between 5N and 20N; 20-50E. The prediction for Mar-Apr-May 2004 rainfall at one month lead (neafMAM1.gif) essentially calls for climatology over the region with some very weak signals of higher than climatological probability for rainfall in the area of Djibouti.

Effective national and international policies,
anchored in an action plan adopted in 2001 in Brussels, could help meet
the challenge of eradicating the hunger and poverty faced by more than
600 million people in the world's least developed countries (LDCs), a
United Nations envoy has said.

Widespread drought has withered crops from
Ethiopia to southern Africa. Nearly 38 million Africans will require outside
food donations by early in 2003--or they will face starvation. Donating
countries have promised less than half of what is needed to prevent widespread
famine.